8 INTRODUCTION LIvINg IN The U RbaN age Ricky burdett and Philipp Rode Why Cities Why Now This book investigates the links between the physical and the social in

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Vital Statistics Nine Cities Compared 252,Understanding the Numbers Justin McGuirk 292. Understanding What People Think Tony Travers 308,REFLECTIONS. Boundaries and Borders Richard Sennett 324,No Frills and Bare Life Alejandro Zaera Polo 332. City Solutions to Global Problems Nicholas Stern Dimitri Zenghelis and Philipp Rode 342. Democracy and Governance Gerald E Frug 350,The Urban Earthquake Anthony Williams 356. Uneven Landscapes Sophie Body Gendrot 360,From Utopia to Youtopia Alejandro Aravena 368. Surviving in an Urban Age David Satterthwaite 374,Getting to Work Fabio Casiroli 380. Facing the Metro Challenge Bruce Katz 388, On the Ground Adam Kaasa with Marcos Rosa and Priya Shankar 396. Credits 416,Contributors 419,Urban Age Conference Participants 421. Editors Acknowledgments 431,p5R indd 5 25 1 11 08 00 10. Wolfgang Nowak, Cities are political programmes made visible They are mirrors of society and systems. of governance of the country in which they are located Successful cities demonstrate. the viability of social systems In cities all of the world s problems and conflicts are. crowded together in a confined space In growing metropolises the first second and. third worlds come into direct contact with each other Cities have to deal with religious. and cultural confrontations terrorism economic crises pandemics and of course. migration issues Centuries ago cities believed they could protect themselves against. problems with walls Today people try to protect themselves against unresolved. problems through gated communities within cities, We are experiencing a crisis of responsibility between citizens and government. and not only in Western cities and states Citizens experience their own powerlessness. walking through their city every day and they interpret it as powerlessness on the part. of the government In particular young people are often radically disoriented by the. experience and become vulnerable to any kind of ideological discipline Occasional. attacks through a ruthless enforcement of special interests e g by prestige buildings. only reinforce doubts about the government and its ability to serve the common good. The kind of conflicts that occur in cities can only be resolved however by mediating. between different value perceptions Learning and mediating and the willingness to. see through other people s eyes are core competencies for the successful governance of. a city Nowadays legitimacy results not only from elections it develops when a mayor. achieves a significant contribution as an impartial entity to improving the situation of. citizens and takes a stand against the repeated threat of growing cities disintegrating. into unbridled individual interests, The growth of cities is currently unstoppable The constitutions of European. cities were designed to address problems of the twentieth century They are hardly. appropriate to today s challenges Some cities have become urban regions which. are limited in their development by historic national and city borders In many. countries it is national rather than municipal government that holds the strings to. planning decisions In effect these cities are governed from outside But nations will. increasingly depend on cities and their economic success New forms of governance. for cities are required To a certain extent we find ourselves in a hiatus the old form. is no longer effective and the new form is not clearly visible yet A new generation of. mayors proves on a daily basis that they can not only endure political conflicts but. also resolve them Some have even stepped up to become heads of state They have. 6 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 6 24 1 11 08 33 09. managed to mobilize the expertise of all citizens for better solutions Cities put high. demands on their leaders They must succeed in not only managing a confusion. of issues problems and contradictions but in linking them into a common will in. an ongoing process Once this has been achieved a city becomes a visible political. programme of change one that replaces the old ideologies of the twentieth century. Since 2005 the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank s Alfred. Herrhausen Society together with mayors city planners state governments. architects scientists community groups and committed local people have studied. growing and in some cases shrinking cities of the twenty first century The Endless. City published in 2007 described the outcome of the first two years of collaboration. This book Living in the Endless City covers the following three Given the fact that. the twenty first century is the urban age the work was extended to cities in India. Latin America and the Mediterranean The result was an international think and do. tank linking people across continents and political systems ready to learn from and. with each to find better solutions for cities of the future. In recognition of the value of this work Deutsche Bank decided to fund a new. research centre at the London School of Economics in 2010 which is now in full. operation under the banner of LSE Cities The objective of LSE Cities is to consolidate. and build upon accumulated knowledge and serve as the centre of the evolving. network of urbanists at a global level, None of this would have been possible without the personal endorsement of. Deutsche Bank s CEO Dr Josef Ackermann whose commitment to the project has. been outstanding We wish to thank him and the Alfred Herrhausen Board for their. continued support of this joint initiative, During the Urban Age Conference in Mexico City in 2006 the conference. participants visited a large informal neighbourhood whose residents suffered from. lack of basic infrastructure and resources In the middle of this misery we were. surprised to find a building that had a transformative effect on the young people. from the area Organized as a local citizens initiative this small arts centre was an. island of hope in a hopeless environment We responded by setting up the Deutsche. Bank Urban Age award a US 100 000 prize which is given annually to projects. which demonstrate responsible partnering and that improve the social and physical. environment of a city Since 2007 the prize has been awarded in Mumbai S o Paulo. Istanbul and Mexico City to projects that have reacted to intolerable conditions. They reacted positively by working together on projects without violence or extreme. crime either of which would have negated their existence as engaged citizens of. their own city They motivated themselves and others to break away from enforced. passivity to find better solutions for human coexistence The award gives a voice to. those in the city who have no lobby They are ambassadors of new ideas. This volume describes our collective work between 2007 and 2010 including the. conferences the research and surveys and the local awards All parties in the Urban. Age project are united by a common goal to find a grammar for the success of cities. Scepticism is clearly justified given the major problems faced especially by the cities. in Asia Africa and Latin America And yet I am confident that we will make it as the. former Brazilian President Lula once put it with utopia in our hearts but both feet. firmly anchored in the real world, Wolfgang Nowak is Director of Deutsche Bank s Alfred Herrhausen Society. 01INTRO final indd 7 24 1 11 08 33 16,the Urban Age. Ricky Burdett and Philipp Rode,Why Cities Why Now, This book investigates the links between the physical and the social in cities. It is not an academic exercise but one that stems from a sense of urgency that. something needs to be done to address the dynamics of urban change described by. the statistics on the front cover With half of the seven billion people on earth living in. cities a substantial proportion of global GDP will be invested in energy and resources. to accommodate a mass of new city dwellers over the next decades 1 The form of. this new wave of urban construction and the shape of our cities will have profound. impacts on the ecological balance of the planet and the human conditions of people. growing up and growing old in cities That is why cities and their design matter. It is not the first time that city form and social development attract global. attention Social reformers in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth and. early twentieth centuries were preoccupied by similar concerns In the aftermath of. the Industrial Revolution cities were swamped by new migrants in search of jobs and. opportunities But at a considerably slower pace and smaller scale than the current. wave of global urbanization London grew from 1 million to become the world s first. megacity of 10 million It took over a hundred years to get there Lagos Delhi and. Dhaka are today growing at the rate of over 300 000 people per year Mumbai is set. to overtake Tokyo and Mexico City as the world s largest city in the next few decades. with over 35 million people The order of magnitude is radically different. Last time round planners reacted to overcrowding and congestion with a heavy. hand Entire communities in traditional city cores were ripped apart to create clean. and healthy new urban environments to house the urban poor Road widening. schemes and large scale blocks replaced the fine grain of city streets Suburbanization. led to the separation of city functions fuelling urban sprawl before we became aware. of the consequences on climate change and social alienation Are we are about to. repeat the same mistakes but at a grander and more dramatic scale. The cities being built and transformed today will have far greater consequences. both locally and globally The way they are changing is not encouraging The. investigations of the Urban Age project which forms the basis of this publication. find that cities are becoming more spatially fragmented more socially divisive. and more environmentally destructive The objective of course is quite different. Governments public agencies and the private sector are driving this change to. improve living conditions of existing and new city dwellers responding to a real. 8 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 8 24 1 11 08 38 16. 2 of the earth s surface is occupied by cities,of the world s population lives in cities. 01INTRO final indd 9 24 1 11 08 38 24, market demand resulting from global economic growth and restructuring. In Chinese cities like Shanghai for example strong growth has seen the new. middle class triple the amount of space they occupy in the space of a few decades. moving from pre industrial housing conditions to apartments with running water. reliable electricity and modern domestic facilities Formally planned or illegally. constructed neighbourhoods are emerging on the peripheries of older cities while. new dormitory towns gated communities or mass housing schemes are appearing. on the edges of Istanbul S o Paulo or Mumbai as illustrated in the essays that follow. The problem is that the bulk of what is being built today which could stay with us for. hundreds of years may have even more negative impacts on the urban communities. they are designed to serve than the ones built by the well intentioned social reformers. of the last centuries, A few examples serve to illustrate this point In Istanbul the government is. building 3 million housing units in 20 years All around the millennial city rows. of bland 20 storey tower blocks surrounded by tarmac are emerging reminiscent. of the most alienating social housing projects built across Europe and the United. States in the mid twentieth century Some of these have since been demolished. because of their social dysfunctionality yet the same ubiquitous typology continues. to be erected around the world Despite a recent slowdown S o Paulo continues. its march towards endless sprawl fuelled by a planning ideology that finds four. hour commuting patterns acceptable in a city that accepts about one thousand new. cars on its streets every day Many other metropolitan areas of the fast growing. economies would have similar stories to tell Mumbai s cynical attempts to redevelop. Dharavi India s largest slum located on valuable land near the centre with large. commercial blocks replacing the fine urban grain of one of the city s most sustainable. communities raises the spectre of 1960s slum clearance programmes that devastated. the social life and urban structure of so many European and American cities While. the inevitable forces that drive improvement and growth must be embraced it is time. to ask ourselves whether we have got the planning formula right. On balance the answer from this publication is probably no The impact of this. emerging urban landscape on people and the environment with very few exceptions. is likely to be negative Before considering the findings and reflections of the Urban. Age experts on the forces and contradictions that are shaping this new wave of. urban change it may be helpful to give an overview of the global impact of cities at. economic environmental and social level,The Global Urban Context. With a population share of just above 50 per cent but occupying less than 2 per. cent of the earth s surface urban areas concentrate 80 per cent of economic output. between 60 and 80 per cent of global energy consumption and approximately 75 per. cent of CO2 emissions 2 Seventy five per cent of the world s population is expected. to be concentrated in cities by 2050 a large proportion in megacities of several. million people each and massively urbanized regions stretching across countries. and continents As the maps on pages 26 to 43 reveal these patterns of human and. urban development are not equally distributed across the surface of the globe Cities. in developing countries continue to grow due to high birth rates and by attracting. migrants while rural settlements are transformed into urban regions At the same. time some cities of largely urbanized developed countries have had to adapt to. profound economic restructuring with shrinking populations. 10 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 10 24 1 11 08 38 48. LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS,While high levels of urbanization have. gone hand in hand with increased,energy consumption measured by the. ecological footprint some countries,have been able to maintain relatively high. standards of social well being measured,by the United Nation s composite Human. Development Index without indulging in,unacceptable levels of over consumption. that challenge the earth s capacity to,sustain balanced and equitable growth. This graph developed by LSE Cities is part,of the Green Cities chapter of The Green. Economy a study commissioned by the,United Nations Environment Programme. Geneva 2011,Urbanization level in 2005, While urbanization has helped to reduce absolute poverty the number of people. classified as urban poor is on the rise Between 1993 and 2002 50 million poor. were added to urban areas while the number of rural poor declined by 150 million 3. Urban growth puts pressure on the local environment that disproportionately affects. disadvantaged people who live in precarious structures in more vulnerable locations. such as riverbanks and drainage systems all of which are exposed to flooding. mudslides and other hazards linked to climate change Regular flooding in S o. Paulo Istanbul and Mumbai not to mention New Orleans or Jakarta indicate the. immediacy of the problem and its costs on human lives. Cities of different wealth levels impact the environment differently As their. economies become more prosperous with wider and deeper patterns of consumption. and production their environmental footprint is increasingly felt at a global level. In terms of carbon emissions energy electricity and water consumption dwelling. and transport patterns there is a very marked difference between cities in developed. and developing countries Whereas cities in Europe the US and Brazil for example. have a lower environmental impact than their respective countries cities in India and. China have a much larger impact owing to their significantly higher income levels. compared with their national averages, But why are so many cities continuing to grow From an economic perspective. cities bring people and goods closer together help overcome information gaps and. enable idea flows 4 National development of countries has always been linked to the. growth of its cities as witnessed by the fact that manufacturing and services have. increased their share of global GDP to 97 per cent and most of these activities are. located in urban areas 5, Mirroring their economic performance as cities grow in size they leave a strong. imprint on the planet The World Bank has estimated that while urban populations. in the developed world have grown only about 5 per cent their built up area has. increased by 30 per cent between 1990 and 2000 For developing world cities the. growth of populations was 20 per cent against a 50 per cent increase in urbanized. p11R indd 11 25 1 11 08 01 06,12 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 12 24 1 11 10 22 29. of city dwellers live in slums,01INTRO final indd 13 24 1 11 08 55 25. land Annually the amount of built up land per person has increased by 2 3. per cent in cities in industrialized nations and 1 7 per cent in developing world. cities 6 These statistics are living evidence that the endless city is not simply a. metaphor but a description of a real physical phenomenon which applies just as. much to Los Angeles and Phoenix in the United States as it does to Mexico City. or S o Paulo, As argued above much of this expansion has occurred with the growth of. peripheral development triggered by suburban lifestyles and a combination of land. speculation weak planning control and greater population mobility The rapid. expansion of car use has gone hand in hand with horizontal expansion Increasing. motorization continues to create an infrastructure legacy that matches those of. the cheap oil period of the 1950s and 1960s bringing with it a landscape of urban. motorways flyovers and tunnels that has a negative impact on the quality of the. urban environment causing physical severance and acoustic and air pollution Even. though fuel is no longer cheap this has not stopped Mexico City spending most of. its transport budget on the Segundo Piso a double decker flyover in the middle of. the city or Mumbai investing millions of dollars in the much disputed Bandra Worli. Sea Link across one of its stunning bays Meanwhile Boston has invested over US 5. billion on the Big Dig demolishing the 1960s elevated motorway that scarred the. centre for decades Many others have followed suit, Despite an ongoing debate on the links between physical structure and energy. use in cities there is growing evidence that urban environments with higher. density residential and commercial buildings a well distributed mix of uses and. public transport reduce the energy footprint Research has shown that the so called. compact city model has lower per capita carbon emissions as long as good public. transport is provided at the metropolitan and regional level 7 Despite this evidence. and important efforts like the C40 movement the majority of cities globally are. following the less sustainable model of urban growth It is left to a handful of urban. pioneers like Copenhagen Seattle Singapore or Bogot to implement radical but. highly successful policies that have dramatically reduced their energy footprint. reduced commuting times and improved quality of life. But what do these numbers and statistics mean for both those who inhabit and. those who build the city How can the old model of urbanity that has supported. human existence for centuries serve us to comprehend the emerging form of cityness. that the new century of massive global urbanization is delivering What is the. complex relationship between urban form and city life and how can we intervene. at governance level as policymakers urban designers and planners to bring about. positive change These are some of the questions that have been addressed by the. Urban Age project to which we now turn,Experiencing the Urban Age Project. A sequel to The Endless City this book adds to the global debate on the future of cities. with new research on Mumbai S o Paulo and Istanbul yet builds on the accumulated. knowledge and experiences of six other cities New York Shanghai London. Mexico City Johannesburg and Berlin 8 It is a distillation of more than five years of. collaborative work that has brought together several hundred people who perhaps. before the Urban Age project did not see themselves as urbanists per se Traffic. engineers mayors criminologists architects sociologists planners perhaps but. not urbanists,14 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 14 24 1 11 08 55 43. Yet over time as each one of us was confronted with a different spatial reality the. need to understand our distinct viewpoints in relation to the urban came sharply into. focus The more we observed the complex processes of social and economic change. the more we became aware as Saskia Sassen puts it that the materiality of the city. itself allows it to survive while nation states companies kingdoms and enterprises. come and go Paradoxically though it became clear that that very materiality its. architecture is subject to continuous at times violent modification that accounts. for the resilience of some cities and the failure of others to adapt to economic change. and deal with the consequences of transition Confronting urban realities across. the world has confirmed that city dwellers can do better than those who live in rural. areas Like the poorest Mumbaikars we have found that many see their city as a bird. of gold a place of fortune where you can change your destiny and fly 9 As the figures. above show city dwellers get jobs they produce and earn more They can have better. access to education and health They can more easily become part of a networked. global society But at the same time they consume and pollute more They are. exposed to extreme floods violence disease and wars Many live without rights to. land shelter or votes entrapped in a vicious cycle of social and spatial exclusion It is. these fragmented topographies that bring the informal and the formal close together. rendering them interdependent within the contemporary urban landscape. The essays in this book reveal that it has become difficult for many of the Urban. Age experts to talk about their own discipline without reference to the spatial. dynamics of urban change As Wolfgang Nowak has described in the Foreword this. process started in 2005 when the first Urban Age conference took place in New York. followed in quick succession by five other conferences over the following two years. The second phase continued in three hotspots of global metropolitan growth The. first took place in November 2007 in Mumbai India s economic powerhouse where. 44 newcomers per hour are swelling the Maximum City 10 The second occurred. in December 2008 at the height of the global recession in S o Paulo Brazil s most. populous and dynamic city growing at the rate of 11 people per hour The final. conference of the series was held in November 2009 in Istanbul with claims to being. Europe s largest city even though a third of its residents live on the Asian side where. 12 new residents per hour contribute to its success as one of the most resilient urban. economies in the world 11 Not only do these cities represent world regions that are. growing rapidly today but their metropolitan areas expanded exponentially during. the twentieth century Mumbai by 1 978 per cent S o Paulo by 7 916 per cent and. Istanbul by only 1 305 per cent since 1900 even though it has quadrupled since 1980. By contrast London only grew by 16 per cent over the same period 12. Each conference was attended by 300 to 400 people with presentations given. by up to 80 local and international experts covering subjects as diverse as urban. governance security and crime transport and mobility housing and public space. as well as the impact of cities on the environment and sustainability The Urban Age. team carried out studies on wider regional trends working with local municipalities. and institutions as part of year long research projects that generated the material and. ideas discussed at the conferences and included in this book 13. The Mumbai conference became the focus of debate on urbanization of Indian. cities including Bangalore Kolkata and Delhi and at a time of significant. restructuring of urban governance in the world s largest and most cumbersome. democracy In S o Paulo we explored how South American cities including Buenos. Aires Lima Bogot and Rio de Janeiro were responding to different economic. 01INTRO final indd 15 24 1 11 08 55 52,16 INTRODUCTION. 01INTRO final indd 16 24 1 11 10 23 01, of the world s CO2 emissions are produced by cities. 01INTRO final indd 17 24 1 11 08 56 38, and social pressures especially in relation to inequality and security In Istanbul we. focused on how the profound social cultural and economic change in a city with. a deep history inhabited for over 2000 years is affecting its spatial and political. A Road Map for the Reader, The book is divided into three sections Cities contains visual essays and analytic. texts which mirror the content of Urban Age conferences held in the three core cities. from 2007 to 2009 Data is a compendium of vital statistics of all nine Urban Age. cities accompanied by a critical narrative and the results of opinion polls carried out. among local residents Reflections collects the thoughts of scholars and practitioners. who have followed our project offering their perspectives on the lessons learnt for the. twenty first century city, Following this introductory text the first two essays frame the critical thematic. axes of the book built form and the urban economy Tackling the relationship. between architecture and cities head on Deyan Sudjic offers a critique of the limits of. the current discourse within the design professions when it comes to addressing the. pragmatics and the poetics of Living in the Endless City Reviewing recent projects. in the three Urban Age case studies he argues that architecture has remained on the. edge of the conversation about cities and makes a rallying call to architects to get. off the fence and address what cities might become Taking a different view Saskia. Sassen tackles the complex economies of global cities arguing that their resilience. and survival are interdependent on indeterminate infrastructure and built form. Using examples from Istanbul Mumbai and S o Paulo she describes how backward. often informal sectors serve advanced sectors and their high income employees. concluding that urban manufacturing plays a critical role in extending the deep. histories of global cities in current times and that the specialized differences of cities. have specific spatial requirements in order to allow their complex economies to grow. and survive, In the essays that investigate Mumbai in the context of other Indian cities the. authors offer different insights on governance civic engagement exclusion urban. culture and mobility A common theme runs through the texts that despite the. immense poverty of its residents and inadequacy of its infrastructure Mumbai has. lessons to offer other cities around the world The sheer density of human occupation. which Suketu Mehta describes as an assault on one s senses cuts through all the. essays as does the notion of resilience and ingenuity of its residents Mehta connects. the vibrant social economy of slums like Dharavi to the realities of Lisbon and. Istanbul arguing that the tabula rasa approach to slum redevelopment is totally out of. step with the needs of a more inclusive urban society especially one that is so lacking. in resources, Equally critical of the ambitious top down vision for Mumbai as a Global City. Darryl D Monte argues that there are many cities in Mumbai constituted by different. social and cultural identities that run the risk of being stamped out by the current. coalition of state bureaucrats and vested interests Building on this theme Rahul. Mehrotra gives a new reading of how Mumbai functions for its diverse constituencies. through its kinetic dimension a city of festivals events in perpetual motion. continually renewing itself Geetam Tiwari agrees that a high population density has. implicit benefits in terms of energy consumption and while she applauds the fact. that over 50 per cent of Mumbai s population commute to work by foot or by bicycle. 18 INTRODUCTION,01INTRO final indd 18 24 1 11 08 56 58.